A Thought from a Pilgrim of Truth

Culture Tuesday: Bitcoin Was Always Destined to Fail

All we need to do is look at the world to see that bitcoin was destined to fail right from the start. Money is power, and people crave power on the one hand, and distrust people with more power than they have on the other hand, and in order for bitcoin to work someone would have to hold a great deal of power.

No single nation could be trusted with such power and responsibility, and no single nation ever would be. Neither could we trust any group or entity to such an endeavor. Think of the UN. There are numerous nations that distrust the UN, and even large groups of people that don’t trust the UN in the countries that do by and large, trust the UN. Power breeds mistrust and suspicion, and the power that would come with bitcoin management and backing would cause great amounts of suspicion among many countries in the world.

It is hard to imagine the fall out that would occur if any single entity had the power of oversight over bitcoin. Again think of the UN. There is already a certain amount of jockeying for position. Think of how much more there would be if something like a world currency was at stake. Decisions on leadership could lead to a third world war. And let us not be so blind as to think that we are beyond such things.

We can take a look at the euro for example. Brexit may well lead to the fall of this shining standard of national cooperation. Nations desire sovereignty, and with anyone else at the reigns of a world currency, this desire will necessarily cause friction, and eventually war. In essence, people are far too fond of their freedom and independence to allow any one entity rule over them through the power of a world currency.

This brings us to the thought of letting it have some sort of “free floating” self governance. Again we would have great suspicion of someone secretly manipulating things for their own gains, or else skimming off the top. And this doesn’t even bring into view the many nefarious entities that could be using such an open system to the adverse effects of the many. Here I am thinking of terrorist and career criminals. There is no reason to believe that we could prevent such actions without proper oversight, which brings us back to the problem previously mentioned.

Therefore, Bitcoin was dead even when it was first conceived of due to our natural mistrust of our fellow man, and, at least for now, I think that a dose of skepticism toward the motives of other is warranted. Perhaps Bitcoin could make things simpler and more secure for us all, but for now, it will have to stay as a far off dream, and I wouldn’t really hold my breathe on it becoming a world currency any time real soon. The truth is, we’re just not ready, and I don’t look for us to be in the near future.